crazy dufflebag man

last night mark drove through the mist that blanketed los angeles to the nuart to catch a screening of "in cold blood." as i've previously mentioned, i loved "capote" but have not had the pleasure of reading the book "in cold blood" nor have i seen the film adaptation. jessica tells me she loved the book, while mark loved the film.

standing in the lobby waiting for the film to start we were chatting with the theatre manager about the film. some guy, a stranger, who had just seen the film inserted himself into the conversation. first of all i hate when people do that. so he was all "you haven't seen the movie before?" and i was all "no, but i loved capote so my interest was piqued." so he explained that, like myself, he saw "capote" and then saw "in cold blood." at this point it became apparent that he'd just gotten off the crazy train. he suddenly became somewhat angry and agitated at capote. "why it's nothing more than a REMAKE!" he exclaimed. "except that the capote character in the original, instead of being.." (he then kind of cocked his hip to one side and held up his hand, his pinkie extended in some sort of silent film style pantomime of a sissy) "...he's just a regular straight-talking joe." he didn't actually say "straight-talking" but it was something like that. even though i suspected that he was wrong, i couldn't argue with him. or maybe i didn't want to. the crazy man continued on his tirade. "and THEN phillip seymore hoffman goes and wins an oscar. FOR A REMAKE!" i believe i shrugged. the man, who was carrying a large duffle bag, then headed for the exit shouting back, "you'll see!"

now that i've seen the movie, all i have to say is that crazy dufflebag man is completely wrong about everything. WRONG. you're wrong, crazy dufflebag man.

it's all about meme

so, it looks like for the first time in the life of this blog i've been "tagged" to do one of these "meme" things. and so here goes:

four jobs i've had:
1. one summer i worked in a maxi pad factory. i wore a hair net and took always slender regulars with wings off a conveyor belt and stacked them neatly in a carboard box. for 8 hours a day.
2. when i first moved to los angeles i worked as a messenger. i seem to recall going through a tank of gas a day. could that be possible?
3. in college i worked at a bagel shop. i even had to a special 2 day orientation in another city where i learned how to cut bagels and make bagel sandwiches. bagels are serious business.
4. i've done lots of retail - some of the things i've sold include, $300 throw pillows, slip-covered sofas, lucky brand jeans (back when they had the dip can imprint in the back pocket), doc martins, ralph lauren chinos, tommy hilfiger coats, bagels, books.

four movies i can watch over and over:
1. rear window
2. showgirls
3. election
4. rosemary's baby

four places i've lived:
1. manhattan, kansas (the "little" apple)
2. salt lake city, utah
3. ithaca, new york
4. new brunswick, new jersey

four TV shows i love:
1. project runway
2. nip/tuck - although i'm not very happy about how the carver storyline was resolved
3. arrested development
4. sex and the city

four places i've vacationed:
1. gulf shores, alabama
2. palm springs, california
3. disneyworld
4. branson, missouri

four of my favorite dishes: (this one is difficult as i love to eat)
1. chips and salsa or guacamole - my biggest weakness
2. indian food. i just love indian food. i don't really care what it is.
3. i make a really great pepper crusted filet mignon that i serve with a romain and watercress caesar salad dressed with a rich yolky dressing and home-made croutons.
4. coconut cake

four sites i visit daily:
1. curbed la - what can i say, i love a good mixed-use development
2. semissourian.com - it's all about speak out
3. towleroad - the perfect combination of gay sex and gay news
4. food network - getting ideas for my next meal

four places i would rather be right now:
1. at home
2. shopping
3. eating some pot roast at jar
4. visiting someplace i've never been. at the top of the list is london, paris, barcelona, rome

the chicken dilema

i like to pick. in our kitchenette here at the office i frequently pull off a chunk of a bagel and dip it in the cream cheese. i just want a taste. i don't want the whole thing. on fridays, i break off a little bit of donut and leave the rest in the box. sometimes a little later, i come back and break a little more off. i have been known to tear open an individual bag of doritos just so i can take one or two of the chips and leave the rest of the open bag. as a child i used to steal little drinks from my mom's glasses of soda rather than pouring one for myself.

ok so picture it: half a roasted chicken has been sitting on the counter in the kitchenette for several hours. i'm hungry. no one has claimed it. as far as i'm concerned it's fair game. everytime i go into the kitchenette and size up the situation, co-workers inform me that they think the chicken belongs to the head of the company, BUT they are sure i can cut off a chunk, that he wouldn't mind. i mean, he probably wouldn't mind, right. if he didn't want people to pick at the chicken, it wouldn't be on the counter tempting us all. is this a test?

i really want some of that chicken. i can see it from my desk.

quote whore

driving to work this morning i was stopped in traffic and i look over to the bus that's stopped beside me. on the side of the bus is an ad for a movie that is soon coming to dvd and at the bottom of the ad is a glowing quote from a reviewer. i squint to see what hack critic gave this unworthy film such high praise and it turns out to be my nemesis from college. i really shouldn't be surprised. every so often i read his schlocky reviews on rotten tomatoes, but this is the first time i've seen one of his gushy quotes pulled for an ad.

god.

get back to work

so after two months of being unemployed, i am finally back to work. my time off sort of flew by despite the fact that i didn't seem to do anything other than watch food network and go to the gym. i didn't do nearly any of the things i had wanted to. i didn't travel. i didn't see that many movies (although i did rent some and watched various extras and commentaries, mostly for crap that i didn't want to see in the theatre, such as dark water - god. how unneccesary is THAT movie). i didn't do anything cultural, although i did go to the library a couple times. that counts, doesn't it? i wanted to have lunch with my friends more than i did. i cooked a lot and i went out quite a bit, which is part of my 2006 as reliving my mid-twenties plan. i did go shopping more than i probably ought to have considering that i was making no money. but i lost some weight and i was celebrating with new clothes.

anyway. it's nice to be employed, back at the same company i've worked many times in the past. i'm working on the first episode of the second season of the show i worked on last year - the season premiere, if you will. it's a little nerve racking to work on an episode laden with expectations, but i'm sure it'll be fine. it's fun to be back. it's kind of like the beginning of a new school year. lots of familiar faces. some new ones. some cute new ones. ah the life of a freelancer.

oprah demands the truth

poor poor oprah. first hermes won't let her buy a purse and then james frey makes her look like a fool.

actually that stupid oprah makes me mad. her whole self-righteous scolding of james frey and his book of lies this afternoon was nauseating. all this bullshit about what is a lie and what is a truth was nothing but lip flap. all oprah cares about is her own repuation. who cares whether he was telling the truth? who cares whether his book is marketed as a memior or whether elements of it were fictional. i'm sure oprah has had guests on her show who her own producers urged to bend the truth or omit certain facts, in the interest of creating a more compelling story. the truth is subjective, people.

wow, i'm all fired up considering i've not even seen the cover of james frey's book, much less read it. actaully right now i'm reading the biography of the lovely and regal grace kelly. a few interesting things i've discovered about princess grace include:

-she had a sexual appetite that rivalled joan crawford.

-she was her family's jan brady. after going to drama school she returned home to philadelphia with her new "grace kelly" accent and her whole family laughed at her, just like when jan got the big afro wig.

-she went to shcool with the real life von trapp children.

pretty interesting, right? now that grace had some class.

an update

ok. i'm totally sorry i haven't been posting. i'm unemployed right now and as such i don't spend all thim much time in front of the computer. it seems i've been quite busy. here's what i've been up to, in no particular order:

-made two visits to the new west elm store down on third stree promenade. we had to re-accessorize annie's apartment. 2006 is the year od non-symetry. can i just say that the people who work at west elm are all idiots.

-had jury duty. down town. i had high hopes of getting called onto a case and then i was planning on manipulating the rest of the jurors into thinking whatever i wanted them to. but then i got lost 3 times driving down their and then went to the wrong building. by that point i just wanted to go back home. screw the justice system.

-one of the fug girls went shopping with me for all new clothes. this year it's all about brokeback moutain gay cowboy shirts and tight boot cut jeans.

-i witnessed a fantastic cat fight between 3 girls out side a club in west hollywood. several bouncers struggled to pry them apart and at one point, one of the girls went flying off the curb and landed on her back in the street. it was shocking. in the end, one of the bounced, a bemused look on his face, held up a single mangled gold strappy heel that was left behind.

-saw king kong at the new theatres at century city mall. too long.

-annie, pierson and i went to a jazz concert in los feliz and then afterward when out to good luck bar with the singer of the band and a friend of his - a nanny for some actress on a show on nbc.

-saw a hit and run the the parking lot of my supermarket. the victim was a limodriver with his client in the back seat. well it wasn't exactly a limo, it was one of those dark towncars. he got out and remarked that he thought the other person hit him on purpose. "she DEFINATELY did it on purpose." we all watched as the agressor, clearly angry at the limo driver, shook her indext finger at him and then sped out of the lot, almost running someone over.

-went to mickey's in weho on sunday night where the they had a brokeback mountian hot ass contest. none of the contestants were what i would call hot. although the go-go boys were particulary randy. one was completely nude and had just a cowboy hat covering his junk. as he danced he would sort of grind into the hat as though he was horny enis del mar and the hat was jack "nasty" twist's sweet little ass. some of the other dancers just wore bandanas tied around their units. how i love performance art.

-saw munich after having had 3 or 4 margartias at border grill. not smart. but i loved the movie. i loved the style of it, the clothes the assasins wore, especially daniel craig (his look was all about gay cowboy shirts and tight flares) and there are several scenes where eric bana, with his puppy dog eyes, would make a big table full of food as a way to deal with his morality struggles, and serves the food on this fantastic dishware. oh my god. the wine glasses.

-went to tito's tacos for a late afternoon snack. mmm. crunchy tacos.

-returned the gore vidal book i was reading to the library and checked on one on grace kelly. now that lady was classy. i think i may try to read the biographies of all the hitchcock blondes. i got the idea from my friend heather who read all the biographies of all of frank sinatra's ex-wives.

that's about it.